Practice, of course!
Leading up to the start of the 2019 NFL season, Kevin Hanson will use the 2019 Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator (powered by FantasyPros) to complete fantasy football mock drafts.
- MORE: Check out Kevin Hanson's way-too-early 2020 NFL Mock Draft.
We will use a variety of scoring formats -- PPR, half-PPR, standard scoring and even 2-QB leagues, league sizes and draft slots. The goal is to give you a good representation of the team that you may be able to construct given your league settings and the rationale of why we made the picks we did.
>> Our mocks will be tracked here: Fantasy Football Mock Drafts.
That said, nothing beats practicing yourself so (check out the simulator) and complete a mock in a matter of minutes.
2019 PPR Mock Draft: 12 Teams, 5th Pick
Without further ado, here are the picks of our 12-team 2019 fantasy football mock draft using point-per-reception (PPR) scoring:
1.05 - David Johnson, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Believing 2019 will be "similar to 2016" (2,118 YFS and 20 TDs), Johnson (once again) has his sights set on a 1,000/1,000 season. Given the up-tempo and wide-open nature of the offense, Johnson should have a lot more opportunities to make plays in space and significantly improve upon last year's numbers.
2.08 - JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
Taking a massive step forward in his sophomore campaign, Smith-Schuster led the Steelers in both receptions (111) and receiving yards (1,426) in 2018. With Antonio Brown and his 104/1,297/15 production now in Oakland, there could be more targets in Smith-Schuster's future, but there will certainly be more defensive attention.
3.05 - Leonard Fournette, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Durability (11 missed games in two seasons) and inefficiency (career 3.7 YPC) are worrisome, but there are some reasons for optimism. A true workhorse, Fournette has averaged nearly 20 carries per game (19.09) when he's been active and the team should sustain more drives with improved quarterback play. Season-ending injuries sidelined Jacksonville's LT/LG/C for major chunks of the season, but running lanes should be wider with their return to health and the addition of road-grading RT Jawaan Taylor in this year's draft. Plus, Fournette could be more involved in the passing game as well.
4.08 - Tyler Lockett, WR, Seattle Seahawks
Despite a consistent level of targets -- 66 to 71 -- in all four of his seasons, Lockett posted career highs in receptions (57), yards (965) and touchdowns (10) as he shattered previous career highs in catch rate (81.4%), yards per reception (16.9) and yards per game (60.3). While those ratios may regress closer to the mean, Lockett's target volume is all but assured to increase at the same time given Doug Baldwin's retirement.
5.05 - Sammy Watkins, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Through five NFL seasons, Watkins has just one top-24 season (2015, WR16) although he just turned 26. A major problem with Watkins has been his durability (or lack thereof) as he has missed three or more games in three of the past four seasons and a total of 18 games over that four-year span. The former fourth-overall pick has tremendous upside to open the season while Hill is suspended.
6.08 - Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers
Since 2008, Rodgers has played at least 15 games in nine of 11 seasons. In those nine full seasons, he has finished no worse than fantasy's QB7 and he has finished as a top-two fantasy quarterback seven times. Assuming good health, he's about as safe as it gets in terms of fantasy quarterbacks.
7.05 - Kenyan Drake, RB, Miami Dolphins
Drake finished second on the team in carries (120) to Frank Gore (156) and in targets (73) to Danny Amendola (79) last season. With Gore in Buffalo and a new coaching staff in town, perhaps Drake will see the year-over-year bump in usage that we expected from 2017 to 2018. Despite the less-than-expected workload, Drake was efficient as he averaged 4.5 yards per carry and 9.0 yards per catch while scoring nine total touchdowns on his 173 offensive touches last season.
8.08 - Rashaad Penny, RB, Seattle Seahawks
In better shape than last year, Penny was on the short end of last year's 74-26 percent split in workload with Chris Carson, but that margin should narrow in 2019. Earlier this year, coach Pete Carroll said of the Carson-Penny duo that "I don't know who's one and who's two, it doesn't matter to me." Given his first-round pedigree, Penny has enormous upside in Seattle's run-first attack even if he enters the season as Carson's backup.
9.05 - David Njoku, TE, Cleveland Browns
In his age-22 season, Njoku finished 2018 with 56 catches, 639 yards and four touchdowns to end the year as fantasy's TE9 in PPR formats. While the offense will continue to blossom as Baker Mayfield enters his sophomore campaign, there are potentially fewer targets with Odell Beckham now in Cleveland.
10.08 - DeSean Jackson, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
In spite of missing four games, Jackson finished 42nd in fantasy points in 2018. Now back in Philadelphia, D-Jax gives the Eagles the deep threat they have lacked. Jackson led the NFL in Y/A in 2018 (18.9), 2016 (17.9) and 2014 (20.9).
11.05 - Jamison Crowder, WR, New York Jets
Not only did he miss roughly half the season, but Crowder set a career low in receptions per game (3.2) and his 43.1 YPG was his lowest since his rookie season. A return to his 2016/2017 numbers -- 60-plus catches and 750-plus yards -- seems reasonable if he can stay healthy.
12.08 - Mohamed Sanu, WR, Atlanta Falcons
Sanu set a career high in receiving yards (838) in 2018 and just missed by one in receptions (66, career high: 67). Even with Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley ahead of him in the pecking order for targets, Sanu could once again finish as a top-36 wide receiver in 2019.
13.05 - Kalen Ballage, RB, Miami Dolphins
The fourth-round rookie got 28 of his 36 carries in the final three games of the season with Gore sidelined. Although his workload will certainly expand in 2019, he'll form a timeshare with Drake and likely get the smaller share of that split, but there is certainly upside from his 13th-round draft slot.
14.08 - Minnesota Vikings D/ST
15.05 - Darwin Thompson, RB, Kansas City Chiefs
A sixth-round rookie out of Utah State, Thompson has plenty of sleeper appeal as the final pick of this team.
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